Rebecca Singer has become the first patient in a clinical trial testing a drug that researchers hope could pull her out of her reality and eventually lead to a groundbreaking autism treatment. In the study led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine and assisted by a research team from Rutgers University, the Tenafly girl is taking a growth factor hormone that was shown to reverse in mice some of the deficits associated with autism. Researchers aren't expecting a cure but are hopeful for a "disease modifying" outcome, said Dr. Alex Kolevzon, one of the physicians working on the study and the pediatrics clinical director at the Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai. "We know that humans don't always respond the way mice do, but there's the potential for significant benefit," said Dr. Kolevzon. Learn more